Pages

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Showered with Love

Sorry for the brief hiatus. I have been a busy little crafting bee preparing for my sister's baby shower, which I hosted this past Saturday. There's nothing like having 15 ladies over to motivate the completion of several house projects (more on that in a future post). I love to entertain and I had so much fun planning and decorating for my sister's shower. Lindsay is going with the Camp Baby Girl theme to decorate her nursery so I used the same theme as my inspiration for the shower.

It all started with the invitation. I actually created the invite in word and printed it on this paper from my favorite paper supplier, Paper Source. I selected these envelopes in Plum to add a bit of color to the ensemble.

Next, I moved on to the decor. To bring the outdoors in, I painted plain terracotta flower pots white with green and purple polka dots (same green and purple as the invite). I used the flower pots for flower arrangements, to hold party favors, and for a wish tree that took the place of a guest book. After the shower, I gave the pots to my sister to use to hold odds and ends in the nursery.
The wish tree was very easy to make. I used florist's foam to anchor the tree (a branch spray painted white) securely in one of the flower pots, then filled the pot with plaster of paris. I lined the bottom of pot with a couple of plastic grocery bags first to keep the wet plaster from leaking out drainage hole. I used these cards from Paper Source and simply punched small holes in them, and threaded the holes green and purple ribbon. Guests were encouraged to write wishes for the baby or words of wisdom/advice for Mommy. I figure my sister can display the tree in the nursery and when she needs more space remove tree and store the tags in a keepsake box.
I used more paper to make a banner to hang on the fireplace and carry the part theme into my living room. For this project I simply used a special paper cutter to cut circles out of scrap booking paper, used my computer to create letters which I printed on card stock and cut out, and strung it all together with ribbon. My sister loved the banner and plans to hang it over the baby's crib.
I like to cook, but one woman can only do so much. So I purposely kept the food simple. Instead of cake, I opted for cupcakes dressed up with little custom fondant toppers that I ordered from Two Sugar Babies. Aren't they the cutest!
I even managed to incorporate the theme into my gift, a name portrait. Lindsay loved it and I think baby Natalie will love pointing out and naming the little woodland critters when she learns to talk.

Last but not least, before guests left they were each given a little bookmark as a favor. These were also created on my computer and used the same little owl graphic as the invitation. The bookmarks read,"Bookmark the blog to stay up to date and in the know about all things related to the arrival of Natalie Cecelia Pack.", and included the website for Natalie's baby blog.

For my next project, I'll be turning my attention to my baby girl's nursery. With her arrival only 6 weeks away I need to get moving!

2 comments:

I am in awe! Everything looks amazing. I especially love the wish tree. Your house looks like you have lived there for years! Bravo, Amanda! I can't wait to hear the good news about Baby Pack (and Baby Farnum)! xxoo